MOSCOW, 27 Jan. The West should provide Ukraine with the full arsenal of weapons available to fight, despite the risk of escalation of the conflict, wrote British General Richard Shirreff in an article for the Daily Mail.
«Many will be worried about the risk of escalation, caused by increased support from the West. <…> Yes, the risk is real, but we must look at it from the point of view of perspective,» the military said.
In his opinion, Ukraine should receive all the weapons that NATO countries have in their arsenal: about 300 tanks, 700 armored vehicles, 500 artillery pieces, and in addition long-range missile systems and advanced fighters.
«There should be no half-hearted measures,» said Shirreff.
After long discussions on the supply of Western tanks In Kyiv, the German government on Wednesday agreed to send Leopard 2 combat vehicles to Ukraine. It is planned to form two tank battalions, at the first stage, Berlin will transfer a company of 14 A6 combat vehicles from the Bundeswehr stocks. As German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius noted, the tanks may arrive in Ukraine at the end of March.
The delivery of tanks for the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the same day was announced by US President Joe Biden. According to him, the Ukrainian military will receive 31 M1 Abrams combat vehicles, they will form one tank battalion. A senior US administration official specified that it would take months, not weeks, to deliver the equipment to Ukraine.
Last spring, Moscow sent a note to NATO member countries over the transfer of weapons to Ukrainian troops. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that any cargo that contains military equipment will become a legitimate target for the Russian Aerospace Forces.